]]>We’re at midcourt, and the ball is about to go up…it’s Monday Tip-Off! Start your week here at the NLSC with a feature that’s dedicated to opinions, commentary, and other fun stuff related to NBA Live, NBA 2K, and other basketball video games. This week, I’m tipping things off with a look at the in-universe value of VC in NBA 2K19’s Neighborhood.

Last year, I calculated the in-universe value of Virtual Currency in NBA 2K18’s new open world, The Neighborhood. I noted that most consumables and clothing cost as much as a single game’s base salary for your MyPLAYER (if not more), which was already stretching reality. Converting VC to real dollars via the salary that’s listed on our MyPLAYER’s bio card determined that 1 VC was equivalent to around $29. This meant that in-universe, a basic t-shirt cost over $17,000, while a headband would set you back a whopping $29,000. That’s some serious sales tax!

In NBA 2K19, VC rewards were increased slightly. It’s possible to negotiate a higher first year salary upon completing The Prelude, incentive-based bonuses come along quite early in your career, and there are other ways of earning some extra VC. The catch is that upgrades are still quite expensive, as are clothing items. In other words, it’s been more of a case of inflation rather than parity. With that in mind, I thought it would be interesting to make the same conversions and determine the in-universe value of Virtual Currency in NBA 2K19 as well. Are the prices just as ridiculous when you put a real dollar value on them this year?

To put it bluntly: yes. Let’s start out with the calculation itself. As mentioned, we know our base salary from negotiating it at the end of The Prelude – it also pops up at the conclusion of every NBA game in MyCAREER, in case you forget it – and we can see it represented as a real dollar amount on our MyPLAYER’s bio card. We simply divide that dollar amount by 82 to get our single game salary in dollars. From there, it’s just a matter of dividing that number by the amount of VC we receive per game as our base salary, and we have the dollar value of 1 VC. That allows us to calculate the in-universe cost of anything that we spend Virtual Currency on.

As I noted, the rookie salary of $1.18 million in NBA 2K18 allowed me to calculate that 1 VC was equal to around $29 last year, resulting in exorbitant prices. In my NBA 2K19 MyCAREER on PlayStation 4, I opted for less VC per game in exchange for a 2x MyPOINTS bonus. It wasn’t a savvy negotiation, but the point is that I ended up with the same 500 VC base salary as last year. The thing is, according to my bio card, it now equates to a salary of $4.29 million. If we run those same calculations, that’s a salary of $52,317 per game. As such, 1 VC equals $104.63 (let’s round it up to $105), which is more than three and a half times last year’s value!

The prices of most basic items remain around the same as last year. A simple t-shirt still costs 600 VC, for example. Now that we know the in-universe value, however, we also know that it carries a price tag of around $63,000. And that’s just a plain t-shirt in the colour of your choice! At 1000 VC, headbands now cost $105,000 (and must be purchased separately for NBA, Pro-Am, and Playground). A pair of Nikes can cost upwards of 4500 VC, or $472,500 (and we’re not even talking about the rare Nike Mags once sported by Marty McFly). There is a little more parity between the prices and our earnings in NBA 2K19, but the in-universe value is definitely sillier.

However, we do need to double-check something here. Since we can negotiate a different base salary, it’s worth checking to make sure that the value is consistent. For comparison, I also have a MyCAREER game on PC in which I accepted an offer of 1000 VC per game. Glancing at my bio card in that game, the real dollar amount is higher: $25.23 million, to be exact. This works out to be $307,683 per game. When we divide that by 1000 – the salary per game in Virtual Currency – we obviously get $308 (rounded up). This means that VC doesn’t have a consistent value or conversion rate this year, except that 1 VC always equals a lot more than one in-universe dollar.

Of course, this still means that in-universe prices are insane. The price tags simply get even more ludicrous the higher your salary. With a salary where 1 VC is equivalent to $308, that same t-shirt is now $184,800. Headbands will now set you back $308,000, and those top shelf Nikes will cost $1,386,000! I did wonder if the salaries were also random or if they just scaled differently, so I started some new games. This confirmed that while the value of 1 VC differs according to the base salary, the dollar amount is the same. In other words, 500 VC will always be $4.29 million and 1000 VC will be $25.23 million per year, and the value relative to each salary remains consistent.

Working out the in-universe price tags may seem like a pointless exercise since those figures don’t ever come into play; it’s all about Virtual Currency, and whether or not you have enough of that to buy the upgrades and items you want. However, it does further underscore the disparity between earnings and prices, and the lack of realism in The Neighborhood. Even if you want to ignore the calculations, the fact remains that rather basic items have prices that are unrealistic compared to what is meant to be an NBA salary. It may not be quite as bad as last year depending on your salary, but it’s still unrealistic. Consider the in-universe dollar value, and it looks even worse.

Needless to say, the prices of items and upgrades alike are meant to push gamers in the direction of spending real money on Virtual Currency. Fortunately, the conversion rate isn’t quite so bad there, though the value still isn’t great, and it shouldn’t have to come to that just to enjoy the game. Even if you forego all cosmetic items and stick to ratings upgrades, VC doesn’t stretch as far as it did just a couple of games ago. We shouldn’t have to manage it so miserly, especially when NBA Live demonstrates that separate in-game currencies for upgrades and clothing is feasible. Also, what exactly happened to all the clothes you had in The Prelude? All in the wash, I guess!

Going back to what I said last year, another issue here is that NBA players get a lot of free things. Teams supply shoes and accessories, so not only do we have clothing that is outrageously priced, more of it should be free anyway. If a player is sponsored by a brand like Nike, Under Amour, or adidas, they’re going to get free shoes and apparel in order to be walking billboards. You do eventually get reimbursed if you have to buy shoes in order to fulfil your contractual obligations, but it’s still very unrealistic. Once again, it meddles with your budgeting, with the aim of encouraging you to buy some VC in order to pick up shoes so that you don’t lose your endorsement deal.

Fortunately, while it is silly that we apparently discarded almost our entire wardrobe after the events of The Prelude, and that we have to buy things that NBA players are handed for free, 2K has gone for some goodwill here. The daily prize wheel can help out here, if you’re lucky. While Virtual Currency, MyPOINTS, or even MyTEAM tokens may seem like the best prizes, being gifted items from Swags, Foot Locker, and the NBA Store can be greatly beneficial. I lucked into some accessories for NBA games, as well as a pair of Jordan shoes. Even if you don’t win any Virtual Currency with your daily spin, you might get some items that allow you to save what you have.

The tricky part of this whole situation is that Virtual Currency has to represent a value both in-universe and on a meta level. Because we earn it playing MyCAREER and the connected experiences, it represents a salary. However, the CPU players aren’t getting paid in VC, so it also has to have a real dollar amount so that your team can have its payroll calculated for trades and free agency. At the same time, it’s a currency that we gamers utilise to buy in-game items, and those prices are affected by its status as a source of recurrent revenue for 2K. This makes it hard for VC to have a consistent value, leading to these discrepancies in the context of MyCAREER’s game world.

Sadly, I don’t think the situation with Virtual Currency is going to get any better. The price of upgrades and clothing will likely remain the same, and the in-universe value is going to look incredibly unrealistic. NBA 2K19 is still a bit pushy with prominent “Get VC” buttons, and it encourages microtransactions with the slow grind from 60 However, there’s a tad more goodwill than there was last year. We at least have a few methods of saving and earning some extra VC. The Neighborhood is certainly an expensive place to live though, and it seems the cost only goes up – in-universe, at least – the more that we make. Here’s hoping that AI is saving for his retirement!

]]>https://www.nba-live.com/mto-value-vc-nba-2k19/feed/0Ultimate Base Roster V42 for NBA 2K14 Releasedhttps://www.nba-live.com/ultimate-base-roster-v42-for-nba-2k14-released/
https://www.nba-live.com/ultimate-base-roster-v42-for-nba-2k14-released/#respondMon, 19 Nov 2018 01:12:27 +0000https://www.nba-live.com/?p=29435V42 of the Ultimate Base Roster has been released for NBA 2K14 PC. It includes a new 2019 season roster, accurate as of November 18th, 2018.

]]>It’s been a while, but HAWK23 is back with a brand new version of the Ultimate Base Roster for NBA 2K14 PC! V42 features a 2019 season roster that has been updated as of November 18th, including tweaked ratings. A breakdown of the key features is as follows:

]]>Episode #266 of the NLSC Podcast is out now! Join Arcane and myself as we give our thoughts on Patch 1.14 for NBA Live 19, discuss a promising development in the fight against online cheaters, and catch up with some recent NBA news. Also, it’s the return of Our Week in Basketball Gaming!

On this week’s show…

Patch 1.14 has come through for NBA Live 19. It’s a significant update, but does it address all of our most pressing concerns regarding gameplay and content?

Sony has patented technology intended to detect cheaters who are using lag switches. Needless to say, this could be very good news for online basketball gaming.

Our Week in Basketball Gaming is back! This week, we enjoyed Court Battles, LIVE Events, LIVE Run, and The League in NBA Live 19. Meanwhile, the grind is on in NBA 2K19’s MyCAREER.

We wrap up Episode #266 of the NLSC Podcast with this week’s NBA discussion. Topics include Kemba Walker’s 60 point game, the latest development in the Carmelo Anthony saga, and Donovan Mitchell’s dubiously historical performance.

Click Play to listen to the show!

Have some thoughts on the latest episode? Got a mailbag question or topic suggestion for the next show? Sound off in the comments section below, or join in the discussion here in the Forum! For more information on the NLSC Podcast including episode guides, check out this page in our Wiki.

]]>Our community has been working on an assortment of updates for NBA 2K19 PC lately, which are compiled below in today’s batch of file additions. New releases include tattoo, face, dorna, transition, crowd, and jersey updates. Check them all out at the links below!

Thanks to everyone who continues to contribute to our Downloads database! If you need help uploading files, be sure to check out this video tutorial. For more information about downloads, the modding community, and File Additions bulletins, please see this FAQ in our Wiki.

]]>https://www.nba-live.com/file-additions-for-nba-2k19-23/feed/0The Friday Five: 5 Games That Felt Like Backwards Stepshttps://www.nba-live.com/tff-5-games-backwards-steps/
https://www.nba-live.com/tff-5-games-backwards-steps/#respondFri, 16 Nov 2018 12:36:19 +0000https://www.nba-live.com/?p=29414In this week's Friday Five, Andrew takes a look back at five basketball games that felt like backwards steps following their predecessors.

]]>Welcome to this week’s edition of The Friday Five! The Friday Five is a feature that I post every Friday in which I give my thoughts on a topic that’s related to NBA Live, NBA 2K, and other basketball video games, as well as the real NBA, and other areas of interest to our community. The feature is presented as either a list of five items, or in the form of a Top 5 countdown. This week’s Five is a list of five basketball games that felt like backwards steps following their predecessors.

Ideally, each release in an annual basketball game series should improve upon the title that came before it (and indeed, all previous games in its lineage). That’s not always feasible, and missteps will happen from time to time when new ideas and technology don’t pan out as intended, so it’s always welcome when a new release is able to build upon the success of its predecessor or bounce back after a disappointing game. I feel that this is a good year for basketball games, with NBA Live 19 continuing a steady improvement for NBA Live, and NBA 2K19 addressing many of NBA 2K18’s issues.

We’re not always so lucky. As much as sports games are often criticised for seemingly releasing the same game every year with new art and rosters, there are times when a new title leaves us wishing that that was indeed the case. It’s impossible to live up to everyone’s expectations, and whether or not certain changes are for better or worse is often subjective, but there have been basketball games that were definite backwards steps for one reason or another. Let’s take a look at five prominent examples and the ways in which they can be considered backwards steps when compared to the games that came before them.

1. NBA Live 06 (360)

If you’re younger and less familiar with basketball games from the late 90s and early 2000s, or perhaps if you’re a particular jaded older basketball gamer, you may believe that NBA Live has never been any good. You would be wrong however, as there was a time that NBA Live was the brand leader in sim-oriented basketball games, and the best overall product year-to-year. The competition started heating up when NBA 2K came onto the scene (particularly when it ceased to be a SEGA exclusive), but NBA Live still held its own for many years. Unfortunately, it stumbled badly when the Xbox 360 was released, and it came time to make a jump to the new generation.

The gameplay in the Xbox 360 version of NBA Live 06 isn’t too bad, at least for the time. It has its flaws, and it should’ve been a bigger improvement over the prior gen version, but it’s reasonably solid. The more pressing issue is its lack of modes and functions that had become staples of basketball games. Both Dynasty and All-Star Weekend were nowhere to be found, and even instant replay was missing. Whenever people say that the depth of modes isn’t important in newer NBA Live games, I point to NBA Live 06 and how it set the series back. It’s a shame because the PC versions of NBA Live 2005 and NBA Live 06 are great, well-rounded games for their era.

2. NBA Live 07 (PC/PS2/Xbox)

When NBA Live hit the Xbox 360, it was clear that the prior gen version of the game was going to be an afterthought. This is always the case, but unfortunately for our community, the prior gen version was the one being ported to PC. In short, if you preferred to play basketball games on PC, or you hadn’t upgraded to an Xbox 360, you weren’t going to get the best version of NBA Live 07. Of course, the 360 version of NBA Live 07 was fairly weak as well. Plenty has been written about that, but it’s worth noting that the PC, PlayStation 2, and Xbox version was also disappointing, even as a lower priority release with fewer expectations.

On one hand, it’s nice that EA Sports still had a separate team working on the prior gen version. They tried to make it a worthwhile release, even implementing some of the features from the new gen version so that it wasn’t just NBA Live 06 with a roster update. On the other hand, it probably would have been better if they had just released an updated version of NBA Live 06. NBA Live 07 was riddled with issues: fatigue was buggy, the new lineup screen was clunky, artwork was missing, and some of the features from the new gen version just didn’t work out. The PC version also randomly crashes, with the lone official patch fixing very little. It’s a definite step backwards.

3. NBA Elite 11 (360/PS3)

There’s no way that NBA Elite 11 wasn’t going to make this list. NBA Live 06 may have gotten the series off to a bad start on a new generation of hardware, but NBA Elite 11 came close to killing it entirely. After a couple of promising outings in NBA Live 09 and NBA Live 10, it looked as though EA Sports’ long running basketball series had corrected course. Unfortunately, the decision was made to change course again, and it was not the right direction at all. First, there was the name itself. NBA Elite doesn’t roll off the tongue as easily as NBA Live does, and while the branding change did underscore a new direction, it threw out all sense of history and nostalgia.

In hindsight, of course, it was fortunate that the failed game bore new branding, as it probably would’ve done even more damage to the series had it carried the NBA Live name. Basically, almost everything about the new direction was a bad idea. Elite 11 took cues from the NHL series that weren’t suitable for basketball games. A lack of a sprint control threw off the pace of the game. Right stick shooting had merit, but the way it was implemented facilitated three-point hook shots. Mike Wang, whom EA had lured away from Visual Concepts, quit and returned to NBA 2K. The series is finally finding its feet again, but it’s been a long road back from NBA Elite 11.

4. NBA 2K14 (All Platforms)

Every list such as this needs at least one controversial or highly subjective entry, and this is it. It’s a choice I stand by, however. I really enjoyed NBA 2K13, as it was the first time I truly felt comfortable with NBA 2K’s controls, and it was the game that got me into MyCAREER, leading to a really enjoyable experience. NBA 2K14 just left me cold, which was disappointing after I had so much fun with its predecessor. Sure, there were some improvements such as the ability to actually block dunks, and fine additions such as the Euroleague teams. However, teammate AI felt a lot weaker (especially on defense) while the CPU’s ability to drive seemed overpowered.

Overall, the gameplay experience just didn’t feel right to me. The same can be said of the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One version. While I think it’s fair to say that the OMG Trailer blew us all away, when I got my hands on the game, it had many of the same issues that prior gen did. It also had one of the worst menus we’ve seen in basketball games. Not only was it cumbersome to navigate, it also caused issues with the save slots. A lot of roster editing features were lost, the new MyGM mode didn’t have the flexibility of Association, MyCAREER was now story-driven, and VC became more intrusive. I honestly feel it’s one of the most overrated games in the NBA 2K series.

5. NBA 2K18 (PC/PS4/X1)

My opinion of NBA 2K18 is quite similar to my take on NBA 2K14: I loved playing its predecessor, but was disappointed by the following game. For all their success, there’s a lot of disagreement over the quality of recent NBA 2K games. Depending on who you ask, any of the last few games are either the absolute best or absolute worst that Visual Concepts has produced. I had a lot of fun with NBA 2K17 despite a few issues here and there, so I disagree with the sentiment that it was bad release. It does seem like there’s more agreement within the community when it comes to NBA 2K18 though, with many disgruntled basketball gamers feeling it was a major blunder.

Yes, NBA 2K is basically just competing with its best releases at the moment, and the brilliance of those games sets the bar very high. Nevertheless, NBA 2K18 didn’t meet the quality of its predecessors in several aspects. The new motion system was clunky, an issue that remains in NBA 2K19. Shooting mechanics were also flawed, and many MyPLAYER Archetypes were broken. Developers would even later admit that design choices originally promoted as improvements were bandaid fixes for problems they couldn’t resolve. And of course, there was the infuriating microtransactions debacle. Frankly, the dissonance between “professional” and actual user reviews says it all.

What are some other basketball games that took a backwards step compared to their predecessors? Do you have differing opinions about any of the games that I listed? Have your say in the comments section below, and as always, feel free to take the discussion to the NLSC Forum! That’s all for this week, so thanks for checking in, have a great weekend, and please join me again next Friday for another Five.

]]>https://www.nba-live.com/tff-5-games-backwards-steps/feed/0NBA Live 19 Patch 1.14 Released; New Content, Gameplay Fixeshttps://www.nba-live.com/nba-live-19-patch-1-14/
https://www.nba-live.com/nba-live-19-patch-1-14/#respondFri, 16 Nov 2018 02:08:52 +0000https://www.nba-live.com/?p=29411Patch 1.14 is now available for NBA Live 19. In addition to the latest roster update, it contains fixes, gameplay tuning, and other new content.

]]>A significant patch (1.14) has come through for NBA Live 19 today. As always, it will be downloaded automatically as long as your PlayStation 4 or Xbox One is online. If you encounter any difficulties, try restarting your console, or checking for the update manually.

The latest patch includes the usual roster updates and corrections, as well as new content for The One Store. It also prepares the game for solo LIVE Events and LIVE Events with custom rules from Court Battles, both of which are coming soon.

Gameplay has also be tuned, while matchmaking and desync issues have been addressed. Passing animation logic has also been adjusted, various patches have been added to uniforms, spacing has been fixed on #11 jerseys, and a few clipping issues have been resolved. New commentary, LIVE Events players, and player hairstyles have also been added.

Please see below for the full patch notes. You can also find that information in the NBA Live 19 update history in our Wiki. As always, feel free to share your thoughts in the comments section below, as well as join in the discussion here in the NBA Live 19 section of the Forum.

NBA Live 19 Patch 1.14 Notes

Some Solo Live Events Arriving Soon and New Live Event Rules

Go into Live Events playing with other AI players or invite your friends

We have a bunch of new game rules brought over from Court Battles that we will be incorporating into our Live Event programming

Improved Matchmaking

Lots of work this past month to improve the matchmaking experience

Functionality to merge lobbies that have groups of players that are awaiting to fill when going public

Audio

1200 New Samples

Content Refresh/Updates to Play by Play

Intensity Tuning for more high intensity moments

Gameplay

Trait Tuning/Balance updates

Online Stability (desync fix)

Passing Animation selection Logic Improvements (passes from the post will respect player facing better – address cases where player was looking in the opposite direction of the pass target)

Thanks to everyone who continues to contribute to our Downloads database! If you need help uploading files, be sure to check out this video tutorial. For more information about downloads, the modding community, and File Additions bulletins, please see this FAQ in our Wiki.

]]>https://www.nba-live.com/file-additions-for-nba-2k19-22/feed/0Wayback Wednesday: Ultimate Team in NBA Live 14https://www.nba-live.com/ww-ultimate-team-nba-live-14/
https://www.nba-live.com/ww-ultimate-team-nba-live-14/#commentsWed, 14 Nov 2018 09:09:55 +0000https://www.nba-live.com/?p=29399In this week's Wayback Wednesday, Andrew takes a look back at the first iteration of Ultimate Team in NBA Live 14, and how the mode has expanded since then.

]]>This is Wayback Wednesday, your midweek blast from the past! In this feature, we dig into the archives, look back at the history of basketball gaming, and indulge in some nostalgia. Check in every Wednesday for retrospectives and other features on older versions of NBA Live, NBA 2K, and old school basketball video games in general. You’ll also find old NLSC editorials re-published with added commentary, and other flashback content. This week, I’m taking a look back at Ultimate Team in NBA Live 14.

The concept of Ultimate Team actually originated in EA Sports’ UEFA Champions League 2006-2007, released for the Xbox 360. It didn’t debut in the FIFA series until FIFA 09, launching in March 2009 as paid downloadable content. Other games in the EA Sports lineup began adopting their own versions of Ultimate Team, with Madden adding the mode as free DLC for Madden 10 in January 2010, and NHL 11 including it at launch. It has since become a staple game mode in EA Sports games, alongside the various franchise and career experiences.

However, with the NBA Live series being derailed by the attempted revamping and rebranding with NBA Elite 11, it wouldn’t be until the release of NBA Live 14 that we finally saw Live Ultimate Team. It was reasonably solid upon its debut, and while it hasn’t been greatly expanded upon in subsequent games, it remains a mode with a lot of potential. Let’s take a look back…way back…

For the uninitiated, Ultimate Team – like NBA 2K’s MyTEAM – is a fantasy team mode that revolves around collecting virtual trading cards from virtual packs. Not unlike the real hobby, the better cards (in this case higher-rated players) have lower odds and are therefore more difficult to collect. Unlike real trading cards, Ultimate Team cards have a more tangible use in that the squad you assemble can be used to compete in various fantasy challenges. Packs are earned as challenge rewards, and can also be purchased with both real money and in-game currency. While you don’t have to spend real money, the concept does yield a lot of added revenue for EA and 2K.

I remember thinking that it was a fun idea for a mode, but not one that I’d particularly enjoy myself. I’ve traditionally been far more interested in the franchise experiences, in which there are real rosters and more control over team building. However, much as I found myself enjoying the single player career experiences more than I had ever anticipated, I became a fan of Ultimate Team when I tried it out in NBA Live 14. My disappointment in the relaunched Dynasty mode played a role there, but there was an immediate appeal to the concept, especially for someone who had collected trading cards back in the 90s as I had so enthusiastically done.

NBA Live 14’s Ultimate Team was unquestionably bare bones. As I noted, the mode still has a lot of potential to be deeper as of NBA Live 19, but in NBA Live 14, there wasn’t much to LUT at all. It was comprised of Fantasy Showdown challenges, single games against any NBA team, and online head-to-head. New challenges were added throughout the year, including challenges without any entry requirements, and others that required you to have certain cards in your lineup in order to play them. The pack options were also straightforward and limited compared to subsequent iterations of Ultimate Team, though they were also slightly cheaper.

Still, the building blocks were there, and it was a good introduction to the concept. I spent a little bit of time in NBA Live 14’s Ultimate Team, and even purchased one of the loaded limited edition packs to beef up my squad. However, the shortcomings of NBA Live 14’s gameplay ultimately proved to be too much of a hurdle. The content of the Fantasy Showdown challenges was fine, the pack odds were acceptable, and it was clear that the concept could be a lot of fun. That was all rendered moot by the gameplay though, and while I did get some enjoyment out of running with the super squad I’d put together, the on-court experience made it difficult to remain hooked.

It didn’t help that a lot of the Fantasy Showdown content consisted of multi-game challenges. Although there were plenty of games to play, completing challenges felt repetitive with so many games following a similar theme. Building the lineup that you wanted was also a lot tougher without the presence of an Auction House. You might be able to put together a decent squad without too much trouble, but you still had to really grind for the team art that you wanted. There’s also a Trophy/Achievement for reconstructing any team’s full lineup, a task that is much harder to accomplish when you can’t pick up any of the missing players through an Auction House!

Fortunately, the developers listened to gamer feedback, and expanded upon the mode in NBA Live 15. The addition of an Auction House made it a lot easier to assemble a squad with the players you wanted; for example, it allowed me to put together my original 90s All-Stars team. There was also a larger variety of pack options, though even the cheapest packs were slightly more expensive than they were in NBA Live 14. The revamped Fantasy Challenges were broken down into Veteran Challenges that were permanently available, and Weekly Challenges that were freshly made but were only available until the next week’s content came through.

Unfortunately, Ultimate Team hasn’t progressed very far since then. While we’ve seen some expansions in the form of GM Lists, additional types of special cards, and a variety of challenges, there’s so much more that the mode could offer. NBA 2K’s MyTEAM offers several examples of what can be done with a team building mode, from the various types of submodes to collection indexes and additional Auction House tools. Looking back at NBA Live 14, LUT has definitely improved and expanded as a concept, but compared to MyTEAM and even the Ultimate Team modes in other EA Sports titles, there’s still a lot of room for further improvement.

Despite these shortcomings, Live Ultimate Team’s approach in certain areas has been preferable to MyTEAM, as well as the other EA Sports games. Pack odds still tend to be rather good, and there are multiple players per pack, compared to just one in most standard MyTEAM packs; a precedent set in NBA Live 14. Although the prices of packs have increased over the years and LUT supports microtransactions, their price and overall value still tends to be better than in 2K. LUT has also retained a simplified approach by avoiding consumables and variables such as shoe cards. It’s even done away with player contracts, allowing for unlimited play with your favourite lineup.

Ultimate Team has been my mode of choice in NBA Live during this generation, and I had a fun time building an even better 90s All-Stars squad in NBA Live 18. Despite the limitations, there is a definite appeal to the concept that makes it worth investing time and resources in developing it further. That appeal was there from the start, even though LUT in NBA Live 14 was lacking in many aspects. Like BIG Moments and other elements of NBA Live on the current generation, the depth and execution may leave something to be desired, but the idea itself is great, laying the foundation for what will hopefully become a deeper and more enjoyable experience in the future.

Thanks to everyone who continues to contribute to our Downloads database! If you need help uploading files, be sure to check out this video tutorial. For more information about downloads, the modding community, and File Additions bulletins, please see this FAQ in our Wiki.

]]>We’re at midcourt, and the ball is about to go up…it’s Monday Tip-Off! Start your week here at the NLSC with a feature that’s dedicated to opinions, commentary, and other fun stuff related to NBA Live, NBA 2K, and other basketball video games. This week, I’m tipping things off with a few thoughts on juggling time between multiple basketball games.

Compared to other sports, we’re in an enviable position when it comes to basketball games. There are two developers working on sim-oriented titles, and while one game is in the lead, the other is steadily improving and becoming a viable option. We’ve also seen the resurrection of the arcade basketball genre, providing us with a brand new alternative to the sim experience. Throw in a wonderful retro concept in the form of Basketball Classics, and we’ve got quite a few options these days as far as the virtual hardwood is concerned.

That does present a certain problem, of course. There are only so many hours in a day, and only so many of them that we can commit to video games. With so much to do in modern basketball games, it can be difficult to spend ample time with each of them if you do decide to buy more than one. As far as problems go, this is admittedly very low stakes, and indeed a desirable one to have, but those tougher issues in life are beyond the scope of a website dedicated to basketball gaming! In any event, if you’ve invested in more than one basketball game this year and you’re trying to get the most out of each, know that you’re not alone.

Given that I’m producing content for a website that’s all about basketball games, I do buy all the new releases every year on at least one platform; when it comes to NBA 2K, I currently double-dip on PC and PlayStation 4. Needless to say, I want to enjoy the games for myself, not just create content for and about them. After all, I believe that the content we create should be driven by our experiences with, and enthusiasm for, the basketball games we play (and not vice versa). The more games we have in our collection, though, the tougher it is to set aside time to sink a lot of hours into all the modes in order to get the most out of the experiences that they have to offer.

Admittedly, the games have sometimes made the decision for me. When I’ve liked one game more than the other, or the quality has made the choice obvious by default, it’s been easier to ration my gaming time on the virtual hardwood. Whenever NBA Live has taken a year off in the past decade, the lack of choice has also simplified matters. It also afforded me an opportunity to get used to certain aspects of NBA 2K’s gameplay, and come to really enjoy the series. However, as NBA Live has continued to improve and offer an appealing experience, I find myself wanting to juggle the two games in order to get the most enjoyment out of both of them in the space of a year.

Again, this is ultimately a desirable situation. Having two viable options in terms of sim-oriented basketball games is preferable to only having one. I would prefer that the quality of both games present this problem, rather than facing the prospect of having a single unappealing title year after year, or two titles where one isn’t a desirable choice. Even though NBA Live still has a ways to go, it does offer modes that I’d like to play, and I absolutely have interest in NBA 2K’s experiences as well. While I do have some gripes, I like the gameplay in both games this year. Add NBA 2K Playgrounds 2 and Basketball Classics to the mix, and the juggling act gets even harder.

With NBA Live 19 and NBA 2K19, it helps that each game has a different approach to particular modes and concepts, and to some extent, that NBA Live is still catching up in terms of depth. Franchise still leaves something to be desired in NBA Live 19, but I’m looking forward to playing a Start Today MyLEAGUE with the Chicago Bulls in NBA 2K19. I’m still undecided when it comes to the card collecting modes, though my hauls from the Locker Codes have me leaning towards MyTEAM. I did want to take a break from the career modes, but MyCAREER is a necessity to build a player for online play. Court Battles are quite fun too, as are LIVE Events and LIVE Run.

NBA 2K Playgrounds 2 and Basketball Classics obviously offer a change of pace. I’m keen to see what Josh and Dave do with the latter once it’s out of Steam Early Access, as it’s already a fun game. Playgrounds 2 – while still falling short of my expectations and the standard set by the best NBA Jam and NBA Street games – is quite solid and enjoyable, with more robust single player content compared to the first release. Both offer quick games and an opportunity to make more rapid progress compared to the sim titles, allowing them to be slotted in between sessions of MyLEAGUE, The One, MyCAREER, Ultimate Team, MyTEAM, and any of the connected online modes.

Of course, even if I know what I want to play, I still have to pick and choose when I fire up each game. With four current basketball games that I’m interested in playing, as well as an interest in retro gaming (also a necessity for producing my Wayback Wednesday content) and a return to modding, I’m wondering if I need to set up some kind of a schedule: NBA Live 19 on this day, NBA 2K19 on that day, and the other games here and there in between. That way I can make steady progress through my new MyLEAGUE game, as well as continue to grind up my MyPLAYER and The One Player so that I can be more competent and competitive online.

On the other hand, sometimes it’s more feasible (and enjoyable) to binge on one game at a time, and then switch to the other when you start to get a little bored or burned out. That’s what I did with NBA Live 18 and NBA 2K18; as it became obvious that I wasn’t enjoying the latter as much as I’d enjoyed NBA 2K17, I put it aside and spent time with the former instead. I just wasn’t feeling NBA 2K18, and NBA Live 18 felt like a much fresher experience, so it was the logical decision. It may be tougher to take a similar approach this year given that I do generally feel positive about both sim basketball games and my experiences with them so far, but it remains an option.

It’s always a conundrum when a couple of video games that you’re really interested in are out around the same time, but it’s a more difficult juggling act when they’re games from the same genre. The overlap in modes and concepts, as well as the need to level up our player avatars in modern basketball games, can end up feeling repetitive. I do understand why many gamers prefer to only buy one sim and one arcade basketball game, or stick to just one hoops title per year. With my habits as both a collector and content creator, I do feel compelled to spend ample time with all the basketball games that I buy every year, in order to feel as though I’ve received my money’s worth.

If you find yourself in the same situation, I’d suggest that we look on the bright side. It is a good problem to have, as fans of other sports games aren’t as spoiled for choice as we are. Choose the mode in each game that appeals to you the most, and wherever possible, aim for differing experiences: different approaches; different player builds, different teams, different strategies, you name it! Make peace with simulating when you need to, and switch titles when you’re getting bored. Juggling multiple basketball games and feeling like you’re getting the most out of each of them can be difficult, but it’s also an opportunity to have even more fun on the virtual hardwood.

]]>Episode #265 of the NLSC Podcast is out now! Join Arcane and I as we discuss the official updates for NBA Live 19, online play in NBA 2K19, and recent NBA news.

On this week’s show…

EA Sports has been pushing through patches for NBA Live 19 on a weekly basis, but the community is growing a little frustrated with the lack of adjustments to gameplay and game modes. Could the updates for NBA Live 19 stand to be more substantial?

The NLSC crew had more fun playing The Playground than the Jordan Rec Center in NBA 2K19 this week. We were glad to have some fun hooping together online, but we’re still disappointed in the new approach to NBA 2K’s Pro-Am modes.

Speaking of online play, could NBA Live and NBA 2K be doing more to reward good teamwork and punish bad sportsmanship?

We wrap up Episode #265 of the NLSC Podcast with this week’s NBA discussion. Topics include Kyrie Irving’s post-game outburst, a trade for Jimmy Butler, and Carmelo Anthony’s future.

Click Play to listen to the show!

Have some thoughts on the latest episode? Got a mailbag question or topic suggestion for the next show? Sound off in the comments section below, or join in the discussion here in the Forum! For more information on the NLSC Podcast including episode guides, check out this page in our Wiki.

]]>https://www.nba-live.com/nlsc-podcast-episode-265/feed/2In Episode #265 of the NLSC Podcast: Updates for NBA Live 19, online play in NBA 2K19, and a couple of topics from the real NBA.In Episode #265 of the NLSC Podcast: Updates for NBA Live 19, online play in NBA 2K19, and a couple of topics from the real NBA.NLSCyes1:21:40File Additions for NBA 2K19https://www.nba-live.com/file-additions-for-nba-2k19-20/
https://www.nba-live.com/file-additions-for-nba-2k19-20/#respondSat, 10 Nov 2018 01:21:18 +0000https://www.nba-live.com/?p=29378Download the latest mods including faces, courts, dornas, and rosters, in today's File Additions for NBA 2K19.

Thanks to everyone who continues to contribute to our Downloads database! If you need help uploading files, be sure to check out this video tutorial. For more information about downloads, the modding community, and File Additions bulletins, please see this FAQ in our Wiki.

]]>Welcome to this week’s edition of The Friday Five! The Friday Five is a feature that I post every Friday in which I give my thoughts on a topic that’s related to NBA Live, NBA 2K, and other basketball video games, as well as the real NBA, and other areas of interest to our community. The feature is presented as either a list of five items, or in the form of a Top 5 countdown. This week’s Five is a countdown of the Top 5 developer cameos in basketball games.

The first video game Easter egg dates back to 1979, when Warren Robinett added a means of accessing a hidden screen in Adventure for Atari 2600, which displayed the message “Created by Warren Robinett”. At the time, Atari did not give credit to any of their developers for fear of having to negotiate expensive salaries for well-known and highly regarded designers, and Robinett’s Easter egg was his response to that policy. Since then, video games have come to credit their design teams, and these days, key developers are well-known to gamers, and often interact with us.

Of course, the credits screen isn’t the only place that developers have had a presence in their own games. Several basketball games have included secret unlockable bonus teams featuring members of the development team, though the practice has largely been phased out in recent years. We still see developer cameos in other areas of the games though, as they lend their names (and sometimes faces) to fictional coaches, NPCs, and generated rookies. They’ll also pop up in a few other places outside of the credits. Playable or not, developer cameos have provided some amusing moments in basketball games, and this week, I’m counting down my picks for the top five.

1. From Mo-Cap to Executive Producer

Sean O’Brien has a long history with the NBA Live series. Until recently he served as the game’s Executive Producer, taking on the challenge of reviving a series that has had its fair share of struggles over the past decade or so. I would suggest that under his leadership, the series established a solid foundation that Seann Graddy and the rest of the team can continue to build upon. However, long before Obes was calling the shots, he was mo-capping them. Sean’s tenure with the NBA Live series began as a member of the motion capture team for several of the early games, before he finally became a producer on later titles (and ultimately, the Executive Producer).

It’s his early work as a mo-cap talent that landed him a cameo in NBA Live. He’s one of several members of the NBA Live team that can be unlocked via entering their names in NBA Live 97’s Create-a-Player. Doing so automatically sets his appearance, bio data, and ratings. He’s a 6’10” power forward with some pretty decent ratings, so if you’re looking to create a developer team, he’s not a bad choice. Sean is also available to unlock in NBA Live 98, which he also provided mo-cap for. I had a chance to meet Sean at an NBA Live 16 community event, making him the only developer that I’ve met in person, interviewed on the NLSC Podcast, and played with in a video game!

2. Rod’s Face in the Game

Speaking of people who go way back with EA Sports, a name that older basketball gamers may recall seeing in NBA Live’s credits is Rod Reddekopp. The Lead Programmer on those early NBA Live games – a position that earned him the in-game nickname of “Leerless Feeder” (an obvious pun on “Fearless Leader”) – Rod’s virtual self is playable in several games with unlockable developers and developer teams. Indeed, he’s a beast in NBA Live 98, where all of his ratings are maxed out at 99. For those keeping scoring at home, that makes him superior to the player that many still consider the Greatest of All-Time: the one and only Roster Player.

However, it’s not his unlockable player that I’ve chosen for this list, but rather another example of him putting his face in the game; literally! Long before face scans, we were able to use a photo to add a face to created players in NBA Live 2000 and NBA Live 2001 PC. The process required a good, head-on photo, and proper selection of facial features. Four example photos were included on the disc to demonstrate how to use Face in the Game, and one of them was Rod (Example 2, to be precise). As such, even though the developer teams had been removed by NBA Live 2000, we could still add EA Canada’s Leerless Feeder to the roster, face and all.

3. Beluba’s Twitter Burns

As noted in this week’s Wayback Wednesday, several NBA 2K developers have had cameos as members of unlockable bonus teams. You’ll also encounter their names being used for generated rookies, fictional coaches in MyLEAGUE and MyGM, and various high school and college players in the MyCAREER stories. And speaking of MyCAREER, many of them will also show up in your social media feed with their actual handles and avatars, commenting on recent events and performances. Now, you might expect me to include my good friends and NLSC alumni JaoSming and Leftos here, but I’m going with Gameplay Director Mike Wang, aka Beluba. Sorry guys!

You see, while it is fun to see JaoSming and Leftos talking about my MyPLAYER on the in-game Twitter, it’s Beluba that provides more explosive commentary. During the story in NBA 2K17’s MyCAREER, your player has an interview with the host of :24, Jason Richmond. Beluba doesn’t care for the interview though, calling Richmond a hack who doesn’t ask the tough questions. He wonders what actually happened to your father (who passed away several years ago), and claims there’s a rift with college teammate Grant Alabaster (describing him as the real star). Yikes! Kind of harsh there, Beluba! Of course, it does perfectly encapsulate Twitter’s toxicity.

4. Tim’s Coaching Career

For those who are unaware, I’m not the original founder or webmaster of the NLSC. I’m actually a horsea magic man the second permanent admin, after the site was founded in 1996 by Tim, Lutz, and Brien. Their outstanding work not only made the NLSC the place to go for NBA Live content, but caught the attention of EA Sports. Tim would go on to be hired by EA – that’s how I came to run the site – and made some outstanding contributions to the series from NBA Live 2001 through NBA Live 07, including the ability to have less than twelve active players and disable automatic reordering (Tim did collaborate with Lutz on the original NLSC rosters, after all).

Tim’s tenure as a developer also led to some in-game cameos. After appearing on the press row, Tim got even closer to the action as he donned a suit and took his place as the unnamed coach of the 70s All-Stars in NBA Live 2003 and NBA Live 2004. His surname was also entered into the pool of names for generated rookies, and I recall it being used for several second round rookies that I either considered or ended up drafting. These days, content creators have a lot of contact with the developers and even enjoy some cameos in basketball games, but back then it was great to see one of our own join the NBA Live team, and subsequently enjoy a few cameo appearances.

5. Turmell is On Fire!

If you create the most iconic arcade basketball game series in history, you deserve to have a cameo in it, right? NBA Jam is well-known for its use of mascots, celebrities, and even politicians as secret players, but several Midway staff members are also playable. This includes creator Mark Turmell, who can be unlocked via codes in the original NBA Jam and NBA Jam Tournament Edition, as well as later games in the Jam lineage such as NBA Hangtime and NBA Showtime: NBA on NBC. After you defeat all 27 teams in NBA Jam Tournament Edition, he’ll also randomly show up alongside the other secret characters as an opponent.

Per The Cutting Room Floor, all secret players in NBA Jam TE have the same ratings, except for Mark Turmell and Jay Moon. Turmell has ratings of 10 for Speed, Three-Pointers, and Dunking, 9 for Passing and Power, 8 for Blocking and Clutch, and 6 for Stealing. Although all secret players are tough opponents with those same ratings for Speed, Three-Pointers, Dunking, Blocking, Stealing, and Clutch, Turmell’s Passing and Power make him even more difficult to face (or even more OP to play with). For his impact on the virtual hardwood, and appearances that predate all other developer cameos on this list, Mark Turmell in NBA Jam gets the top spot in the countdown.

What are some other developer cameos in basketball games that you found fun and amusing? Have your say in the comments below, and as always, feel free to take the discussion to the NLSC Forum! That’s all for this week, so thanks for checking in, have a great weekend, and please join me again next Friday for another Five.

]]>https://www.nba-live.com/tff-top-5-developer-cameos/feed/2NBA Live 19 Patch 1.13 Released; Likeness Updates, New Itemshttps://www.nba-live.com/nba-live-19-patch-1-13/
https://www.nba-live.com/nba-live-19-patch-1-13/#respondFri, 09 Nov 2018 02:11:59 +0000https://www.nba-live.com/?p=29366Patch 1.13 has been released for NBA Live 19. It includes roster and likeness updates, new items for The One Store, and a couple of fixes.

]]>Patch 1.13 has been released for NBA Live 19. It will be downloaded automatically as long as your PlayStation 4 or Xbox One is online, but if you encounter any difficulties, try restarting your console or checking for the update manually.

This time around, we do have some release notes:

New Art

Player head updates

Live Event data

Desync detection info and Desync fixes

A full breakdown of the new player likeness updates, roster moves, and additions to The One Store can be found here over on Reddit. I’ve also updated our own patch history for NBA Live 19 in our Wiki. As always, feel free to share any thoughts in the comments below, as well as join in the discussion here in the NBA Live 19 section of the NLSC Forum.

Thanks to everyone who continues to contribute to our Downloads database! If you need help uploading files, be sure to check out this video tutorial. For more information about downloads, the modding community, and File Additions bulletins, please see this FAQ in our Wiki.

]]>https://www.nba-live.com/file-additions-for-nba-2k14-378/feed/0Wayback Wednesday: Bonus Teams in NBA 2Khttps://www.nba-live.com/ww-bonus-teams-nba-2k/
https://www.nba-live.com/ww-bonus-teams-nba-2k/#respondWed, 07 Nov 2018 09:24:07 +0000https://www.nba-live.com/?p=29357In this week's Wayback Wednesday, Andrew takes a look back at the bonus teams that came before all the historical and All-Time squads in NBA 2K.

]]>This is Wayback Wednesday, your midweek blast from the past! In this feature, we dig into the archives, look back at the history of basketball gaming, and indulge in some nostalgia. Check in every Wednesday for retrospectives and other features on older versions of NBA Live, NBA 2K, and old school basketball video games in general. You’ll also find old NLSC editorials re-published with added commentary, and other flashback content. This week, I’m taking a look back at the bonus teams in NBA 2K over the years.

A couple of weeks ago, I took a look back at the bonus teams that were featured in older NBA Live games. While NBA 2K has become better known for providing basketball gamers with a wide selection of historical squads, it has also featured a variety of bonus teams from Decade All-Stars and developer teams to sports brand and Draft Class squads. While some of them certainly were not essential, they did inject a little extra fun into the game. As with the bonus teams in NBA Live, they provided a means of shaking things up with an enjoyable change of pace.

These bonus teams may now be overshadowed by a bevy of historical content in the form of retro and All-Time squads, but they’re still an important part of NBA 2K’s history of going above and beyond the bare minimum of including all the current NBA teams. Let’s take a look back…way back…

Like most sim-oriented basketball games of the era, the early NBA 2K games were rather thin on extra content. Disk space was at a premium back then, and the focus was on creating games that were more and more realistic (both visually and in terms of gameplay), rather than packing them with bonus features. Nevertheless, there were a few bonus teams available in those early titles, including developer squads similar to the ones that could be unlocked in NBA Live. Other bonus content included the usual selection of wacky codes such a Big Head mode, 70s style uniforms, and so on. There was also NBA 2K’s take on the Decade All-Stars concept.

Unlike the Decade All-Stars in NBA Live, the squads in the early NBA 2K games were broken up into East and West Legends for the 70s and 80s, with a combined 50s and 60s team. Two 90s Legends teams were added in NBA 2K3, with Michael Jordan appearing on the East squad by virtue of being included as an active member of the Washington Wizards. 2K also took a different approach to the teams’ uniforms. While NBA Live experimented with era-specific jerseys, the players on 2K’s Legends teams wore their individual team jerseys; in most cases, a throwback to the era they played. Certain players also appeared on more than one decade’s team, contrary to NBA Live.

The approach was a logical and welcome distinction from what NBA Live was doing with the concept, aping a good idea while bringing something new to the table. The two squads per decade also meant that NBA 2K licensed a few players that NBA Live hadn’t, in order to fill out their rosters. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar stands as a prominent example, but former All-Stars such as Tom Chambers, Sidney Moncrief, and Jack Sikma, were also included. The ratings for the Legends were often exaggerated – in some games, all Legends were rated 99 Overall! – but they were solid bonus teams, and remained in NBA 2K until the retro teams were introduced in NBA 2K11.

Developer teams also remained in the game for many years, with squads such as NBA 2K, VC, and 2K China being playable as late as NBA 2K12, though they would be phased out shortly afterwards. Another variety of bonus teams that could be found in several NBA 2K games during the past decade were the Draft Class teams. Like the International and European All-Stars in NBA Live, these squads made use of players who were already licensed as part of the active NBA rosters, teaming up the younger players in the league with their alumni for the purpose of staging games between the Draft Classes. By NBA 2K9, several classes were represented by their own team.

Team Jordan was also featured in a couple of NBA 2K games, similar to the Team Adidas squads in a few of the NBA Live titles. Michael Jordan himself wasn’t on the team until he was included in NBA 2K11, but the roster did boast Jordan Brand athletes such as Chris Paul, Carmelo Anthony, Ray Allen, and Joe Johnson. NBA 2K9 also featured its version of the International All-Stars, led by the likes of Yao Ming, Dirk Nowitzki, Pau Gasol, Steve Nash, Manu Ginobili, and Tony Parker. Sadly, with the introduction of actual historical teams in NBA 2K11, the Legends teams were dropped. However, they had lasted a lot longer than NBA Live’s Decade All-Stars.

Indeed, NBA 2K’s array of historical content heralded the beginning of the end for the old school bonus teams. NBA 2K13 included one of the last examples with a celebrity team featuring Justin Bieber, JB Smoove, and Bow Wow, among others. Interestingly, in addition to having superstar abilities, some of the celebrities’ heights were boosted, with the 5’9″ Bieber standing 6’4″. Presumably, it was done so they could more easily dunk and avoid getting blocked by NBA players. With the focus now on historical content, NBA 2K13 also celebrated the Dream Team’s 20th anniversary by including them alongside Team USA 2012. NBA 2K14 saw the addition of Euroleague teams.

As of NBA 2K19, only the retro and All-Time squads make up the selection of bonus teams. At this point, that certainly isn’t a bad thing, as I’d suggest that most gamers are far more interested in playing with historical teams than the concept squads that used to be included as bonus content. Compared to NBA Live, there isn’t as great a need to expand NBA 2K’s rosters with extra teams and Decade/Legends All-Stars, as there are plenty of bonus squads to play with as it is. With that being said, their return wouldn’t be unwelcome, in my opinion. They’re useful for fantasy match-ups in Play Now, and on the PC version, they could potentially be handy assets for modders as well.

Their artwork could also be put to use in MyTEAM. Imagine collecting Class of 2003 throwback cards, and being able to outfit your team with the old Draft Class logos and jerseys. The same goes for completing a Legends squad, or maybe a brand like Team Jordan. Nostalgia for the NBA of yesteryear is obviously a big part of MyTEAM, so it would be fantastic if it could also tap into the fanbase’s fondness for older NBA 2K games as well. The inclusion of the NBA 2K8 mini-game in this year’s Prelude in MyCAREER suggests that 2K is willing to celebrate nostalgia for its own brand, so bringing back some of the old bonus teams would be a fun next step in that regard.

Should they remain a relic of another era, then that is of course understandable. We aren’t starved for extra content in recent NBA 2K games, and what we have now generally has a broader appeal. Still, like the bonus teams in NBA Live, those old squads remain a part of NBA 2K’s legacy, laying the foundation for what was to come in later games. It’s also interesting to compare and contrast the developers’ differing approaches to similar concepts, such as the Legends teams. Truth be told, I’m not too thrilled that this week’s feature forced me to look up information on Justin Bieber, but that aside, these old bonus teams are always fun to reminisce about.

Thanks to everyone who continues to contribute to our Downloads database! If you need help uploading files, be sure to check out this video tutorial. For more information about downloads, the modding community, and File Additions bulletins, please see this FAQ in our Wiki.

]]>We’re at midcourt, and the ball is about to go up…it’s Monday Tip-Off! Start your week here at the NLSC with a feature that’s dedicated to opinions, commentary, and other fun stuff related to NBA Live, NBA 2K, and other basketball video games. This week, I’m tipping things off with a few thoughts on the ideal starting ratings for career modes, and why they must be a little higher than they currently are.

The only reason that I’m considering spending any time in MyCAREER this year after feeling burned out on the experience is to build a player for the online modes. Since our NLSC squad has spent a little time in the Jordan Rec Center so far, I’d like to have a player that stands a chance of being competitive online, without having to spend any money on VC this time around. Fortunately, Badges are easier to earn in NBA 2K19, but the process of levelling up from 60 Overall is still quite a daunting task if you don’t have a stack of VC on hand for an initial boost.

In previous articles, I’ve talked about how the grind has turned me off MyCAREER, and how it makes starting over every year feel wearying and unsatisfying. While I’ve vaguely touched on some solutions, I’d like to offer up some more definitive ideas on how to address the problem. One of the key issues that must be addressed is the low starting ratings we begin with every year. It’s a delicate situation as those ratings can’t make the game too easy or too hard, the journey too long or too short. Throw in the matter of competitive and accessible online play, however, and I think it’s clear that starting ratings in MyCAREER must be higher.

As I alluded to, it’s certainly important that levelling up your player in MyCAREER can happen at a steady pace; not so slowly that you get frustrated, but not so fast that you reach 99 Overall too early or easily. To ensure that the journey is not a frantic sprint, starting out with lower ratings is an obvious solution. However, I would suggest that the 60 Overall we begin MyCAREER at is too harsh. It ranks us as one of the worst players in the league, lower than most benchwarmers. When you take into account that the stories portray us as being something special and often The Next Big Thing, there is a clear disparity between narrative and gameplay.

Let’s put aside the story for a moment though, and just focus on the gameplay. Again, it’s understandable that we begin our career being relatively underpowered and need to build up our MyPLAYERs, but we have too many attributes to develop given the cost of upgrades and the ratings that we begin with. There’s a difference between a prospect with a lot of potential, and someone who has no business playing in the NBA. When you look at some of the starting ratings for various MyPLAYER builds, it definitely feels like you’re the latter. There are a couple of key conceptual issues that need to be addressed here, and it’d go a long way towards fixing the problem.

First of all, not only are our skills quite low to begin with, but so are all our athletic attributes. This means that point guards have trouble outrunning plodding bigs, while slashers need to grind just to be above average athletes. Sure, Archetypes provide a token boost to key attributes, but they’re still quite low across the board. Secondly, because skills like shooting, dribbling, passing, and so on are also quite low, it’s a slow process with lots of sacrifices and trade-offs as you grind to become both skilled and athletic enough to be competent and competitive. It’s part of the challenge and the experience, yes, but it’s too much of a handicap, to the point of being unrealistic.

This is an area where NBA Live has demonstrated a much better approach. The lack of pay-to-win mechanics is unquestionably a benefit here – and we will come back to that issue – but one of the main advantages of The One’s progression system compared to MyCAREER is that the starting ratings are higher. In NBA Live 19, you’re rated in the early 70s at the start, and through a linear progression path, you mostly stick to levelling up the key skills for your Play Style. Those start out at a level that allows you to at least be competent, as do the ratings that you can’t choose to upgrade at will. As such, your player at least has some athleticism and solid fundamentals.

In turn, this means that playing online is viable from the moment you create a player in The One and complete The Rise. Needless to say, you’re still going to be at a disadvantage if you have a low-rated player, but it’s a fairer handicap. Compare and contrast this with MyCAREER, and the connected online experiences of Pro-Am and The Playground. If you try to play those modes right away without grinding furiously or purchasing some VC, you’re probably not going to have a lot of fun. The online experience in 2K isn’t welcoming to gamers who want to dive in immediately, unless they participate in the pay-to-win mechanics that set the competitive balance.

This is obviously by design, as it boosts VC sales. MyCAREER can be enjoyed as a slow burn if you have the patience, but if you want to play online right away (as many people do), you’ll have to grind, pay, or suffer. It’s an issue that could be addressed by raising the starting ratings, ideally by boosting the base athletic ratings and key skill attributes for each Archetype, and then adjusting the progression system accordingly. That way, the online modes are a fairer and more bearable for gamers who want to jump right in. MyCAREER stories will also be more fitting, since your player will actually feel like they belong in the NBA instead of the local rec league.

Specifically, I’d suggest raising the starting athletic ratings to around league average; give or take a few points depending on the chosen Archetype and physical attributes. The same goes for skills. For example, a pure Playmaker build should at least match the league average in terms of their passing and dribbling ratings, and shouldn’t have as far to go to elevate them to All-Star or elite level. The same goes for shooting and scoring Archetypes and their offensive ratings, defensive builds and their attributes, and so on. There can and should still be a grind there, but picking a certain Archetype or hybrid Archetype should also offer a few more tangible benefits.

Although this was supposedly addressed in NBA 2K19, a lot of the Archetypes (and hybrid Archetypes) seem underpowered, and less than optimal choices. If nothing else, they don’t compare favourably to a majority of benchwarmers out of the gate, and none are suitable for an early foray into online play…unless you do what needs to be done to get a lot of VC quickly. I’ll often see people sneering “Don’t like paying for VC? Just don’t buy it!”, but that’s not the issue. As long as the starting ratings are low, there are people who will buy VC, and they determine the competitive balance. We can personally boycott the practice if we wish, but that just ensures a disadvantage.

Since changing the starting ratings would likely eat into the all-important recurrent revenue, I’m not confident that we’ll see such adjustments. Even if the developers could make those changes in a way that satisfies 2K’s need to boost their profits with microtransactions, great care would need to be taken in order to ensure that the Road to 99 is well-paced and not too easy. Once again though, I believe that NBA Live has done a great job in this regard with the progression system in The One. It does have the drawback of a more linear path and rigid player builds, but NBA 2K already has a lot of flexibility in this area, and they needn’t lose that in fixing the starting ratings.

Right now, MyCAREER is playable with the starting ratings 2K has chosen for our MyPLAYERs. We can change the settings, play on a lower difficulty while we grind, and increase the challenge once our players have levelled up to being competent. We don’t have that luxury online though, and it discourages gamers from trying out those modes unless they grind hard or pay to level up quickly. Frankly, it’s literally putting a price on enjoying the online experience. The fair thing to do would be to at least make online play viable out of the box, and that means raising the starting ratings. Surely, the recurrent revenue stream won’t run dry because of a little balancing and goodwill.

]]>Episode #264 of the NLSC Podcast is out now! After a long hiatus, Arcane and I are back to our weekly discussions about basketball video games, and a little bit of real basketball as well. Since it’s been several weeks and patches since the last episode, we have a few things to catch up on!

On this week’s show…

We tip off the episode with some housekeeping matters, including an explanation for our unplanned hiatus.

NBA Live 19 has received some significant updates since launch, and the game is better for it. We discuss the various additions and changes, what we’d still like to see, and the modes we’ve been playing.

Updates have also been pushed through for NBA 2K19, though a couple of much-desired changes have yet to be made. Apart from that though, we do have some positive impressions and stories to share.

NBA 2K Playgrounds 2 launched during our hiatus. Has the partnership between 2K Sports and Saber Interactive yielded a better product than last year’s release?

Turning our attention to modding, we talk about the enjoyment and satisfaction of updating an old favourite. This time, it’s a work-in-progress roster update for NBA 2K11.

Episode #264 of the NLSC Podcast wraps up with a quick discussion of the real NBA, including a career night for Derrick Rose, and a contentious situation with Jimmy Butler.

Click Play to listen to the show!

Have some thoughts on the latest episode? Got a mailbag question or topic suggestion for the next show? Sound off in the comments section below, or join in the discussion here in the Forum! For more information on the NLSC Podcast including episode guides, check out this page in our Wiki.

]]>https://www.nba-live.com/nlsc-podcast-episode-264/feed/0In Episode #264 of the NLSC Podcast: Further impressions of NBA Live 19 and NBA 2K19 following all the updates, NBA 2K Playgrounds 2, and more.In Episode #264 of the NLSC Podcast: Further impressions of NBA Live 19 and NBA 2K19 following all the updates, NBA 2K Playgrounds 2, and more.NLSCyes1:44:47File Additions for NBA 2K19https://www.nba-live.com/file-additions-for-nba-2k19-18/
https://www.nba-live.com/file-additions-for-nba-2k19-18/#respondSat, 03 Nov 2018 00:31:26 +0000https://www.nba-live.com/?p=29336Download the latest mods including rosters, courts, dornas, jerseys, and more, all in today's File Additions for NBA 2K19.

]]>Let’s get the weekend started with the latest file additions for NBA 2K19 PC! The newest releases from our modding community include dornas, jerseys, courts, rosters, and more. Pick them all up at the links below!

Thanks to everyone who continues to contribute to our Downloads database! If you need help uploading files, be sure to check out this video tutorial. For more information about downloads, the modding community, and File Additions bulletins, please see this FAQ in our Wiki.

]]>https://www.nba-live.com/file-additions-for-nba-2k19-18/feed/0The Friday Five: 5 Ideas for Basketball Games from Other Genreshttps://www.nba-live.com/tff-5-ideas-basketball-games-genres/
https://www.nba-live.com/tff-5-ideas-basketball-games-genres/#respondFri, 02 Nov 2018 10:30:32 +0000https://www.nba-live.com/?p=29328In this week's Friday Five, Andrew takes a look at five ideas that basketball games could borrow from other genres of video games.

]]>Welcome to this week’s edition of The Friday Five! The Friday Five is a feature that I post every Friday in which I give my thoughts on a topic that’s related to NBA Live, NBA 2K, and other basketball video games, as well as the real NBA, and other areas of interest to our community. The feature is presented as either a list of five items, or in the form of a Top 5 countdown. This week’s Five is a list of five ideas that future basketball games should consider borrowing from titles in other genres.

Basketball games, like all sports titles, differ from other genres of video games when it comes to their nuances and our expectations. In many video games, there are several breaks from reality that are not only acceptable, but desirable. The lack of realism in specific aspects of gameplay doesn’t break our sense of immersion the same way it will in a game that is attempting to accurately depict a sport. To that end, certain features, functions, and concepts that we find in other genres of video games aren’t necessarily a good fit in basketball titles.

At the same time, while Da_Czar’s famous catchphrase of “Don’t play video games; play basketball!” is a great philosophy for developers and basketball gamers alike, the fact remains that basketball games are still video games. There are aspects of real life, such as commercial breaks, that they don’t need to replicate. Similarly, there are good ideas for features, functions, and even content that can be utilised by a wide variety of genres. Even though the concepts aren’t basketball-centric in and of themselves, they could still greatly enhance future NBA Live and NBA 2K releases. Here are five such ideas that basketball games could stand to borrow and make their own.

1. Fast Travel (Fallout)

For the moment, this suggestion really only applies to NBA 2K, unless NBA Live ends up implementing an open world setting in future releases (which personally, I hope they don’t). Although NBA 2K19 has streamlined the Neighborhood somewhat, as a MyCAREER hub it’s still less convenient than the old approach of loading into MyCOURT and accessing features and connected modes through the menus. Look, if you enjoy running around the Neighborhood, that’s fine, but I find it quite boring and a waste of time. Not only does it take a lot longer to do what you need to do, but once you’ve seen everything, that’s it. It’s not like it’s an exciting game world to explore.

There are game worlds that I have really enjoyed exploring though, such as Fallout 3’s Capital Wasteland, Fallout: New Vegas’ Mojave Wasteland, and the Commonwealth in Fallout 4. Even so, there are times when I don’t feel like trekking across the map to get to a location that I’ve already discovered, and that’s when the games’ Fast Travel mechanics come in handy. Ideally I’d prefer to have a menu that allows me to skip traversing NBA 2K’s Neighborhood altogether, but if 2K wanted to make a game out of it and require us to travel to all the locations at least once in order to immediately jump to them in the future (a la Fallout’s Fast Travel), I’d also be fine with that.

2. Showcase Mode (WWE 2K)

In all fairness, this is a concept that basketball games have helped pioneer, with modes such as NBA’s Greatest in NBA 2K12. However, it’s been missing for years, and with their increased historical content and production values, the WWE games have done a great job of providing campaign modes that allow us to relive some of the most memorable matches in the history of professional wrestling (or at least, WWF/E and WCW). For the uninitiated, the Showcase modes challenge us to play matches and recreate specific moments from them. Only through achieving the set goals can we clear the challenge and progress to the next match in the timeline.

We’ve obviously seen a similar concept utilised in the form of the Jordan Challenge and the aforementioned NBA’s Greatest modes, minus the theatrical and scripted nature of professional wrestling. Even though NBA 2K boasts an impressive amount of historical content at the moment, it’s been years since we’ve had a challenge mode in which to use those teams. I’d love to see NBA 2K introduce a mode in which we’d replay a timeline of famous games and match statistical feats, essentially combining the concepts of WWE 2K’s Showcase with the Jordan Challenge and NBA’s Greatest. It would also provide more incentive to play with the retro teams.

3. Deeper Rankings & Expanded Matchmaking Options (Rocket League)

I’ve mentioned Rocket League several times in articles that have touched upon the issue of online matchmaking in basketball games (especially NBA 2K), and for good reason. The game has an excellent approach in that regard, offering both casual and competitive online play. Competitive play is ranked, and intended for more serious and experienced players. The rankings themselves have several tiers, so you’re usually squaring off against gamers on your skill level, and they also reset with each season. Despite the name, casual online play does also provide some good competition, but is kind of the online equivalent of a social league and therefore ideal for newcomers.

The lack of proper matchmaking is starting to become an issue in basketball games, in particular NBA 2K since it has pay-to-win mechanics. From replicating the concept of Got Next in The Playground and throwing everyone in together regardless of Overall Rating or experience, to a very broad tier system in Pro-Am, the matchmaking system is very primitive and unwelcoming to new and low-ranked gamers. Considering how successful Rocket League has been in both the eSports arena and among gamers in general, NBA 2K should take some cues from its ranking and matchmaking system. As it expands its share of the market, NBA Live would be wise to do the same.

4. Branching Career Mode Storylines (Various Games)

You know how I feel about story-driven career modes in basketball games (and if you don’t, the short version is that I’m not a fan), but the fact of the matter is the approach doesn’t seem to be changing anytime soon. With that in mind, the best case scenario is that the concept continues to improve and evolve so that it’s as fresh and engaging as possible. Something that continues to hold career mode stories back is the lack of any story branching or meaningful choices. Everyone ends up essentially playing through the same tale aside from the choice of a few cosmetic differences and alternate scenes. As such, there’s not much room to role play or significantly influence the plot.

It’s a shame, because it doesn’t have to be that way. Consider the different paths and quest resolutions that are available in RPGs like Fallout and the Elder Scrolls series. The story modes in various WWE games over the years have branched in different directions depending on character choices, and whether or not you won or lost a particular match. Sure, games like the Grand Theft Auto series are more linear in their storytelling, but the career modes in basketball games are marketed as sports RPGs. We don’t need ten endings, and at the end of the day it should be about the on-court gameplay anyway, but basketball games should look at the way other genres handle branching stories and character choices, and incorporate them in their career modes.

5. Faction Rewards (Mortal Kombat X)

Apart from starter pack items in the card collecting modes, default teams in the Play Now menu, and in the case of NBA Live 2004, menu artwork, the Favourite Team options in basketball games don’t have a huge (or at least, ongoing) impact on the experience. That could change if NBA Live and NBA 2K implemented something similar to the Faction system in Mortal Kombat X. In MKX, everything you do in-game earns points for your Faction in the ongoing Faction War, which in turn grants weekly bonuses to the winning Faction (such as in-game currency). It’s a way of rewarding everyone for playing the game, and promotes some healthy competition.

This concept could work extremely well in basketball games. If our favourite team has the most wins across online modes in a week, or is perhaps selected as the Team of the Week due to their play in real life, it could result in bonuses in the form of VC, MyPOINTS, and MT in NBA 2K, and SP and RP in NBA Live. In a similar vein, playing exhibition games with your favourite team or being on that team in the career modes could grant additional XP and in-game currency. The different positions and Archetypes/Play Styles could also be periodically rewarded. In short, our affiliations and chosen style of play would net us some kind of small bonuses from time to time.

What are some other ideas that you feel basketball games should borrow from other genres of video games? Do any of the ideas that I suggested appeal to you? Have your say in the comments section below, and as always, feel free to take the discussion to the NLSC Forum! That’s all for this week, so thanks for checking in, have a great weekend, and please join me again next Friday for another Five.

]]>https://www.nba-live.com/tff-5-ideas-basketball-games-genres/feed/0NBA Live 19 Patch 1.12 Released; New Store Contenthttps://www.nba-live.com/nba-live-19-patch-1-12/
https://www.nba-live.com/nba-live-19-patch-1-12/#commentsThu, 01 Nov 2018 01:20:49 +0000https://www.nba-live.com/?p=29325Patch 1.12 has been pushed through for NBA Live 19. It appears that it's mainly a content update, adding new items to The One Store.

]]>NBA Live 19 has received a new official patch (1.12) on both PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. It will come through as long as your console is connected to the Internet, but if you encounter any difficulties, try restarting or checking for the update manually.

No official patch notes have been released as yet, but it appears that it’s mainly a content update. New gear has been added to The One Store, including Halloween-themed items. The update history on PlayStation 4 also contains the usual generic note about minor bug fixes.

If any further information is released then I’ll be sure to post it. In the meantime, I’ve updated the NBA Live 19 patch history in our Wiki. Feel free to share any thoughts and impressions in the comments section below, as well as in this topic in the NLSC Forum.

]]>This is Wayback Wednesday, your midweek blast from the past! In this feature, we dig into the archives, look back at the history of basketball gaming, and indulge in some nostalgia. Check in every Wednesday for retrospectives and other features on older versions of NBA Live, NBA 2K, and old school basketball video games in general. You’ll also find old NLSC editorials re-published with added commentary, and other flashback content. This week, I’m taking on a retro basketball gaming challenge with the PC version of NBA Jam Tournament Edition.

It’s been far too long since I made a video feature, despite my intention to produce more video content this year. Better late than never though, as I had a fun idea for this week’s Wayback Wednesday. Whenever I played NBA Jam Tournament Edition solo back in the day, I tended to play with Tag Mode off, and scored most of the team’s points with the player I was controlling. However, playing point guard for our Pro-Am squad in NBA 2K has given me a taste for racking up assists, which left me to wonder: can I win a game of NBA Jam TE with my CPU teammate scoring all of our points?

I fired up my old favourite, and gave the No Points Challenge a shot. Let’s take a look back…way back…

Catch it here on our YouTube channel if you can’t see the embedded video, and while you’re there, be sure to subscribe! With any luck, I’ll be able to produce some more videos in the not too distant future. I’ll probably also look to upload some excerpts from the NLSC Podcast – which will also be returning soon – so stay tuned for that. I may also tackle some other retro basketball gaming challenges for future Wayback Wednesday features, so if you have any suggestions in that regard, feel free to post them in the comments below!

]]>Patch 1.05 (also referred to as Patch 5) has come through for NBA 2K19. It’s currently available for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, and will be downloaded automatically as long as your console is online. If it doesn’t, try restarting or checking for the update manually. The PC and Switch patches should be pushed through soon.

The latest update addresses a variety of issues across game modes. Some of the issues addressed include incorrect VC rewards for incentives in MyCAREER, a disconnection issue in Court Conquerors events, and a pause glitch in Triple Threat Online, among others. New functionality has also been added, including the ability to see the Heat Check cards currently available in MyTEAM packs. “Pulling the chair” in the post has also received improvements in terms of logic and visuals, and several unlisted adjustments and bug/stability fixes have been made game-wide.

Please see below for the full patch notes; I’ve also added them to the NBA 2K19 update history page in our Wiki. As always, feel free to share your thoughts on the latest patch in the comments section below, as well as in this topic in the NBA 2K19 section of the Forum. I’ll update this bulletin when the PC patch is pushed through.

UPDATE: The PC patch is now available.

NBA 2K19 Patch 1.05 Notes

General

In Play Now Online, the opponent’s uniform will now be displayed in the pre-game settings (to minimize uniform conflicts in games).

If two users pick the same color uniform for a Play Now Online game, the last user to select their uniform will have their uniform automatically changed to one of another color during loading.

Gameplay

Improved logic and visuals of “pulling the chair” in the post.

MyCAREER

Fixed a case where certain stat combo performance incentives (e.g. 25 points and 12 rebounds) were not consistently rewarding the user with the correct amount of VC.

(Switch) Players will no longer appear without uniforms when they play a game in which the Ring Ceremony took place.

Neighborhood

Fixed an issue where headphones would be removed when entering Ante-Up or using the Subway.

Users are now able to see other players’ headphones when viewing them in the Neighborhood.

End-of-game improvements to the Dodgeball experience.

Improved lighting quality inside the new Ante-Up daily spin room.

The VC amount should now always properly appear above the court when in the Ante-Up courts.

When playing a crew game, all users will properly appear in their crews uniform (i.e. will not appear as a mascot).

Fixed a disconnect issue that users were reporting during the Court Conquerors events.

(Switch) Fixed an issue where areas of the walls would lack collision in the new Ante-Up prize wheel room. Make sure to visit location daily to get in your free spins for prizes!

Pro-Am

Users will no longer be required to finish out games against all AI players when the opposing team forfeits by leaving the game.

MyTEAM

Added the ability for users to view what Moments cards are currently available in Heat Check and League Moments packs (press ‘Y’/Triangle button when viewing those packs in the Pack Market).

Cards will now visually show their new, upgraded gem levels when a Duo boost bumps them up over a threshold.

Addressed a pause glitch that allowed some users to pause a Triple Threat Online game indefinitely.

Fixed an issue where the proper Heat Check attribute/overall rating boosts would not display upon visiting the Lineups menu.

Head-to-Head game types (Play With Friends, Unlimited) should now use default free throw difficulty settings rather than the global settings of one of the users involved in the game.

MyGM/MyLEAGUE

Improved server stability and performance in MyLEAGUE Online.

Gameplay-related Rule Changes (voted on in the offseason League Meetings) should now properly take effect during head-to-head games in MyLEAGUE Online.

Fixed a hang that some users would see down the line after previously importing a player’s appearance using Player DNA. If you previously encountered this issue, your save should now be retroactively corrected.

Thanks to everyone who continues to contribute to our Downloads database! If you need help uploading files, be sure to check out this video tutorial. For more information about downloads, the modding community, and File Additions bulletins, please see this FAQ in our Wiki.

]]>We’re at midcourt, and the ball is about to go up…it’s Monday Tip-Off! Start your week here at the NLSC with a feature that’s dedicated to opinions, commentary, and other fun stuff related to NBA Live, NBA 2K, and other basketball video games. This week, I’m tipping things off by firing up NBA 2K17 and NBA 2K18 to see if anyone is still playing them online.

Unless 2K plans on extending their support for NBA 2K17 beyond the 27 months the company pledged following the controversy surrounding NBA 2K14, the game’s servers will be shut off at the end of this year. That gives anyone who is still playing the 2016 release a couple of months to get as much out of it as they can before online support finishes. Anyone still playing NBA 2K18 will have a little longer, as its servers aren’t due to be shut down until the end of 2019. This approach essentially affords each game two seasons worth of online support, plus three months.

While that won’t appease everyone, it’s a reasonable assumption that most gamers will have moved on to a new release in that time. Indeed, we can assume that a bulk of the fanbase has already moved on to NBA 2K19, but how many people are holding out and still playing NBA 2K18? For that matter, how many people have stuck with NBA 2K17 for the past couple of years, or picked it up again? I recently booted up both games on PlayStation 4 to see if I’d find many people still active in MyPARK and Pro-Am Walk-On, rather than hooping it up in NBA 2K19. The results were certainly interesting, at least on the Australasian servers.

I began with NBA 2K17, which required temporarily clearing some hard drive space and reinstalling the game (I’ve yet to invest in an external drive for additional storage for my PS4). After the game finished installing and the final patch had downloaded, I made the mistake of restoring my NBA 2K17 files from the cloud. This overwrote my MyCAREER save with an earlier version, which took me from early on in my second season back to midway through my first (and from 95 Overall back to 92). Although I was unlikely to return to it, I’m still kicking myself for my carelessness! In any event, I still had a working MyCAREER save with intact Park Rep, which was all I needed.

Loading into my affiliated MyPARK – Sunset Beach – I was surprised to see a decent amount of activity. There were several empty courts, yes, but more than a couple of games were taking place, and other gamers were lining up because they wanted next. I remembered returning to NBA 2K17’s MyPARK last year and only seeing one game in progress, with no one else waiting around to play. At the time, I assumed that most gamers must have moved on to NBA 2K18, at least as far as the online modes were concerned. As it turns out, there are definitely still people playing NBA 2K17, with a respectable number of them online in the early evening Australian time.

With my Park Rep still intact despite my blunder with the save file – it seems that that data is tied to our PSN accounts rather than the save, fortunately – I was able to travel to Rivet City and Old Town. I’m not sure if it was simply the luck of the draw as far as the server I loaded into, or perhaps it’s because I’m a visitor rather than affiliated with either of those parks, but they were completely deserted. Looking around, they were both hauntingly empty and quiet. I encountered the same thing when I checked them out last year as well. If I do ever want to get a game of MyPARK in NBA 2K17 before the servers are shut off, it seems that Sunset is the place to go.

Before I left the mode, I entered Pro-Am Walk-On to see if there was any activity there. Unsurprisingly, I was the only player in the gym, shooting around alone. I stuck around for a little while just to see if anyone else would show up, and wasn’t shocked when no one did. Having satisfied my curiosity regarding NBA 2K17, I left the Walk-On arena, and the game. Given that there is still some activity on the Australasian servers, I’m guessing that there are people still playing on both the North American and European servers as well. Clearly there are folks who still prefer NBA 2K17, though they won’t be able to play it online for very much longer.

Next, I decided to see how active things were online in NBA 2K18. I had loaded into the game’s MyCAREER mode fairly recently to get a few screenshots, so I wasn’t surprised to see a bunch of people milling around the Allen Iverson statue when I spawned there. I thought it might be a little quieter given that the consensus is that NBA 2K19 is the superior game and the release we should’ve received last year (a point of view I’d generally agree with), but not everyone has moved on just yet. Not only that, but judging by some of the MyPLAYERs I saw rated in the 60s and 70s, it’s not just MyCAREER veterans grinding for 99 Overall, but newly created players, too.

Seeing The Neighborhood bustling, I headed over to the subway to scope out The Playground. Once again, not every single court was in use, but it was considerably busy with multiple games and people lined up on Got Next waiting for their turn. Considering that I’d encountered Playground servers that were virtually empty towards the end of my time playing NBA 2K18, I wasn’t expecting to see that much activity following the release of NBA 2K19; especially given the more favourable reception of this year’s game. Their reasons for not playing NBA 2K19 no doubt vary, but quite a few people are still trying to get the most out of NBA 2K18 online.

After I’d finished looking around The Playground, I headed over to the Walk-On arena. As with NBA 2K17, I was the only one there, and no one showed up while I stuck around and took a few shots. I thought that the NBA 2K League might have encouraged a few folks to keep playing Walk-On at least, but recalling my own experiences with random teammates, it’s probably safe to assume that anyone who’s enthusiastic about Pro-Am is in the Jordan Rec Center or on a squad in NBA 2K19. To that end, it would appear that MyPARK and The Playground remain the online modes of choice for gamers still playing NBA 2K17 and NBA 2K18.

Basketball gamers sticking with or returning to an old favourite because they don’t want to buy the latest game, or don’t like it as much as the previous release, is not a new phenomenon. As the work of our modding community often demonstrates, there’s a contingent of gamers that prefers an old favourite over the newest game. However, with the popularity of online gaming on the current generation, not to mention the tendency for a majority of the fanbase to move on to the latest release, I am a little surprised to see so much activity in NBA 2K17 and NBA 2K18’s online modes. I wonder how many of them will be moving on to NBA 2K19 at some point.

Given the backlash and disappointment with last year’s game, perhaps more gamers than usual are holding out on getting NBA 2K19, at least for now. For those who have chosen to stick with NBA 2K17, though, they’ll need to make a decision soon: find enjoyment in the offline modes, move on to NBA 2K18 for the next year, or make the jump to NBA 2K19. It seems highly unlikely that 2K will extend the online support for NBA 2K17 past the end of 2018, so the clock is ticking. With that being said, with over two years of playing the game under their belts, they’ve obviously been getting a lot of out it. Hopefully, they’ve been more careful with their save files than I was.

]]>Still playing NBA 2K14 PC? Our modding community still has you covered! The newest mod releases for the game include Blang’s latest face updates, as well as a jersey sponsors mod by Pep. Check them out at the links below!

Thanks to everyone who continues to contribute to our Downloads database! If you need help uploading files, be sure to check out this video tutorial. For more information about downloads, the modding community, and File Additions bulletins, please see this FAQ in our Wiki.

Thanks to everyone who continues to contribute to our Downloads database! If you need help uploading files, be sure to check out this video tutorial. For more information about downloads, the modding community, and File Additions bulletins, please see this FAQ in our Wiki.

]]>https://www.nba-live.com/file-additions-for-nba-2k19-16/feed/0The Friday Five: 5 Outmoded Features in Basketball Gameshttps://www.nba-live.com/tff-5-outmoded-features/
https://www.nba-live.com/tff-5-outmoded-features/#respondFri, 26 Oct 2018 10:30:18 +0000https://www.nba-live.com/?p=29285In this week's Friday Five, Andrew takes a look at five outmoded features in basketball video games, and how some of them have evolved into new concepts.

]]>Welcome to this week’s edition of The Friday Five! The Friday Five is a feature that I post every Friday in which I give my thoughts on a topic that’s related to NBA Live, NBA 2K, and other basketball video games, as well as the real NBA, and other areas of interest to our community. The feature is presented as either a list of five items, or in the form of a Top 5 countdown. This week’s Five takes a look at five features in basketball video games that have become outmoded.

Something I’ve really enjoyed doing with my Wayback Wednesday articles this year is to look at specific features in old basketball games. I do want to get back to doing some full retrospectives on older titles, but I feel that it’s interesting to look back on older features, options, and gameplay mechanics that hoops games used to have. As I’ve mentioned on more than one occasion, there are certain aspects of those older games that I’d love to see implemented once again in future titles. In some cases of course, the basic concept would have to be updated and reworked a little.

On the other hand, there are certain features and functions that can definitely stay in the past. They aren’t necessarily bad or beyond being reworked into a newer concept, but they’ve become outmoded. There simply isn’t the need for them that there used to be; either another feature or function does the job better, or advances in technology and game design have rendered them largely useless. They are nevertheless important parts of basketball gaming history though, and it’s interesting to see how some of them have evolved or been replaced over time. To that end, let’s take a look at five outmoded features that no longer need to be staples of basketball games.

1. Walk Button

Direct Passing/Icon Passing has become a standard (and necessary) part of the control schemes in basketball games. It was clearly a great idea when it started to become a common feature some twenty years ago, which is why it remains in the current games with very few changes being made to it over the years. However, in earlier NBA Live titles, Direct Pass had a secondary function. If you held down Direct Pass while your player was stationary and then moved in any direction, they would walk rather than jog or sprint. This provided greater control over game tempo and player movement. If nothing else, you could walk the ball up court, as players will do in real life.

It’s an outmoded concept now though, and there’s no reason for a Walk button to be included among the controls in current basketball video games. The widespread use of console controllers and PC gamepads with analog sticks rendered the feature obsolete a long time ago. If you want to walk the ball up the court, or have a player take just a few steps to get into position, slight stick movement will see them move at a slower pace than pushing the stick to the extent of its axis. It’s a simpler approach that only requires one input to execute, freeing up the user to focus on other tasks, as well as the Direct/Icon Pass button for other secondary functions.

2. Screensavers

The PC version of NBA Live 96 remains one of my all-time favourite games. It’s been far surpassed at this point (though its gameplay holds up about as well as NBA Live 95), but it has a great aesthetic and soundtrack that I’m very nostalgic for. One of the features that doesn’t get talked about all that much – and isn’t really deep enough for a full Wayback Wednesday article – is the screensaver. As with any screensaver, it fired up after a set period of inactivity in the menus, ensuring that images didn’t get burned into a CRT monitor. NBA Live 96’s screensaver featured a single image moving on a black screen, specifically a randomly cycling team logo that changed with each move.

As with a Windows screensaver, the duration of inactivity before it started could be changed, or it could be turned off completely. It was an effective solution during a time when there was a risk of phosphor burn-in, but as LCD TVs and monitors are not susceptible to that issue, it’s now outmoded. As far as having something that’s visually interesting while the game is idling, pre-recorded attract mode videos, random demo mode games, or some kind of movement in the background or foreground (such your One Player or MyPLAYER performing tricks with a basketball) have become far more popular solutions than a screensaver. I do still like it in NBA Live 96, though.

3. Standalone Single Season Mode

Now, this concept isn’t completely outmoded. Indeed, NBA 2K still offers a single season option under the MyGM/MyLEAGUE menu, providing a MyLEAGUE experience that simply lasts for one season instead of going on for 80 years. The old approach of retaining a separate, barebones style of old school single season mode definitely is outmoded, however. It was an outmoded idea when NBA Live was doing it during the PlayStation 2 era, retaining the old Season mode alongside Franchise, and later Dynasty. While I can’t say that there wasn’t anybody playing Season mode back then, a majority of gamers had definitely moved on to the franchise experience.

There is still merit in having single season play in the game as an option, which is why NBA 2K does include it as a sub mode of MyLEAGUE. A couple of NBA Live games on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 also offered a single Season option for Dynasty mode, simplifying the experience and obviously ending after the first year. Both are much better solutions than having a completely separate mode without any of the depth or options. NBA Live kept the original Season mode in the game for anyone who wanted an old school experience, but that approach would feel like overkill now. It lives on as an option, rather than a separate and outmoded feature.

4. Bonus Video Features

In the 90s, and even through to recent console generations, there was a certain novelty in having videos in basketball games. From the random NBA clips included in the PC version of NBA Jam Tournament Edition to the tutorials and basketball video game equivalents of DVD bonus features during the PlayStation 2 era, developers would find ways of using the extra space afforded by CD-ROMS, and later DVD-ROMs. When it was a tutorial for the controls and gameplay mechanics, they could be rather useful, especially for inexperienced gamers. When it was just a bonus highlight reel or a promotional video, they were fairly useless, and we tended not to bother with them.

No doubt that’s why they’ve disappeared over the past generation or so, despite today’s storage media being able to accommodate high quality video files being distributed with video games. With the exception of the handy demonstration videos in 2KU, there’s just no need for them. Lengthier tutorials and real NBA highlight videos can easily be found online. Disc space is much better utilised by the inclusion of higher resolution textures, additional audio content, and anything else that enhances the quality of the presentation or gameplay. The novelty of bonus video features has long worn off; it’s a charming idea when you look back, but undoubtedly an outmoded one.

5. Wacky Codes in Sim Games

Even though the early sim basketball games did their best to be realistic given the tech that was available at the time, they had their moments where they definitely weren’t taking themselves too seriously. Whether it was unlockable developer teams, cheats for big heads and disco courts, or anything that was a little wacky, it was thrown into the game as a fun little extra. We still see developer cameos and Easter Eggs, but for the most part, the wackiness has been phased out over the years, the humour confined to in-game social media. Features like historical teams have replaced goofy hidden squads, and over the top silliness is generally avoided, especially during gameplay.

This isn’t a bad thing, of course. While we do take basketball games too seriously at times – and I realise the irony of me saying that, having run a basketball gaming site for over seventeen years – the approach of focusing on making the games as realistic as possible, with more substantial bonus content and features, is far preferable. Also, as Locker Codes have demonstrated, gamers would prefer more tangible rewards for punching in codes, rather than just enabling some wacky setting. There’s nostalgia in those wacky old codes, no doubt, but they’d feel out of place in modern basketball games. Fun definitely isn’t outmoded, but that particular brand of silliness is.

What are some other features from older games that you feel are outmoded? Are there any outmoded features that you’d like to see in future games anyway? Have your say in the comments section below, and as always, feel free to take the discussion to the NLSC Forum! That’s all for this week, so thanks for checking in, have a great weekend, and please join me again next Friday for another Five.

]]>Time for another round of file additions for NBA 2K19 PC! The latest releases include another pack of custom basketballs, crowd and dorna updates, and an updated face for Juancho Hernangomez. Download them all at the links below!

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